Vladimir Putin has ordered a daily five-hour “humanitarian pause” in the besieged Syrian enclave of eastern Ghouta, effectively replacing a United Nationssecurity council resolution that had demanded a month-long ceasefire in the embattled region.

The Russian president’s move, which was announced by his defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, highlighted in stark terms Russia’s primacy in Syrian affairs and the UN’s failure to impose an end to the fighting in the region bordering Damascus.

More than 500 people have been killed in eight days of one of the worst bombing campaigns of the seven-year war by the regime of Bashar al-Assad and his allies.

The deal came amid mounting condemnation of the violence, with the UN secretary general, António Guterres, describing the situation in Ghouta as “hell on earth”.